


The Girl In The Crimson Dress

by thepinkpanther



Series: The Collector AUs [2]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: AU of 'The Collector', Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Aro believes in Fate, Aro has Magic, Bella does not die in this, Bella is still 17, Dubious Consent, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, One Night Stands, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, References to Depression, Sexual Content, Strangers to Lovers, Suicidal Thoughts, ordinary vampire behaviour
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:28:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29701980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepinkpanther/pseuds/thepinkpanther
Summary: Bella was standing in front of a slightly elevated mannequin which displayed a red lace dress, her head tilted back as she looked up at it.“It would look fabulous on you.” A clear, melodious, slightly accented voice commented out of nowhere.OrThe AU in which Charlie should have never gotten Bella a car.
Relationships: Aro/Bella Swan, Past Aro/Sulpicia (Twilight)
Series: The Collector AUs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084982
Comments: 18
Kudos: 68





	1. An unlikely meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
> 
> This story is closely related to 'The Collector' universe as well, so it will be far easier to understand the changes from canon if you have already read the main story. But if you haven't? I don't think there is anything that will not be explained at some point, at least superficially. ...Probably.

_16:17 p.m._ , _Sunday_ , _January 23_ , _2005_ , _The Cullen House at the end of David Mansfield Road_ , _Forks_ , _Washington_

Alice Cullen was sitting on the soft cedar floor, leaning her back against one of the leather sofas in the living room, doing her and Jasper’s (who was lying on said sofa behind her and reading ‘ _The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant_ ’) Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English, Spanish, French, History and Algebra homework for tomorrow.

Rosalie and Emmett were currently busily sucking face on the kitchen island… in the kitchen.

Carlisle was in his study, reading January’s edition of ‘ _The British Medical Journal_ ’.

Esme was in her studio in the attic, sketching.

Edward had not yet returned from Alaska, but he should be back at 4:19 a.m. tomorrow morning. More than enough time to make it to the first lesson and repair the damage he had done by smoothing things over with Bella Swan.

Alice had seen the new girl, the Police Chief Swan’s daughter, becoming a vampire. Just a flash of her being a newborn, red-eyed and stunningly beautiful.

 _However_ , Alice had not been able to see how or when the new girl would become a vampire. Nevertheless, Alice was quite certain that Bella Swan _would_ become a vampire. Even if there were plenty of visions of Edward killing Bella. Or Bella dying in various kinds of accidents. It was a little strange though. Her visions of Bella being a vampire showed her as she was right now. Bella had not aged at all. Alice speculated that if Bella will indeed become a vampire it will happen in less than two years time.

 _Bella Swan_.

Alice wondered about what the girl was up to right now… was she doing her homework as well? Alice _looked_ -

 _Bella Swan was walking into a Dolce & Gabbana store in Seattle (Alice would recognise it **anytime** ).  
_ _She was wearing her black alpinist jacket, black jeans and pink winter boots.  
Her hair falling in lazy curls down to the middle of her back,  
five paper shopping bags in her hands._

Bella was… _SHOPPING?!_

Alice’s fingers started to itch and her pen clattered to the low table in front of her and after rolling back and forth for a few seconds, stilled on her Algebra worksheet. Alice felt the sickly sweet compulsion to **buy something ~~(ANYTHING)~~** awaken from its brief nap the monotonous homework had lulled it into ten minutes ago.

Alice tried _looking further_ (the visions of Bella were always very short. Never more than ten seconds long. Usually less. Sometimes she could not get a vision of the Chief’s daughter for hours as hard as she tried before getting three in a row. It was a little peculiar, but nothing unprecedented) -

 _Bella was standing in front of a slightly elevated mannequin which displayed a red lace dress  
_ _(definitely not Alice’s style, but she had to admit the dress was very beautiful),  
her head slightly tilted back as she looked up at it. (Alice could not see her face,  
she saw it as if standing behind Bella)._

_“It would look **fabulous** on you.” A clear, melodious, slightly accented voice commented out of nowhere,  
having the effect of prompting Bella to turn her head and look behind her right shoulder at the speaker.  
The last thing Alice saw before the vision cut off was the slight widening of Bella’s chocolate eyes._

Alice knew that voice.

Not personally, no, but she has had a handful of visions in which that voice had featured.

Her initial shock was swiftly overtaken by dread.

“Darlin’? What did you see?”

Alice turned around to look at Jasper who had closed his book, and gazed up into her soulmate’s loving honey eyes.

“Bella Swan. She is currently shopping in Seattle. Alone.” Alice answered. She was absolutely sure the vision had already taken place. Seconds ago. Alice had seen the two visions _mere seconds_ before they had happened.

“Alright..?”

“Jazz… she was looking at a dress when suddenly a voice behind Bella was telling her that it would look ‘ _fabulous_ _on her_ ’.” Alice whispered and tried to _see_ **_more_** , but there was nothing new she could see of the girl.

_Argh!_

“Why are you so upset, darlin’?” Jasper asked. He had taken her hands in his and was sending calming waves her way.

“That voice belonged to Aro Volturi.”

A second later Carlisle, clearly having paid attention to their conversation, or at least superficially, sat down on the opposite sofa to Alice and Jasper’s.

“Alice, are you _certain_?” Carlisle asked too quickly. _And too seriously_. Carlisle was _nervous_. Why would Carlisle be _this_ nervous?

“Yes. I recognised it from a few other visions I’ve had of the Volturi. I’m positive it was him.”

“When will it happen?” Carlisle asked even faster.

“Carlisle. It has already happened.” Alice compassionately informed. “I saw the vision moments before it happened. It was practically real time.”

Carlisle appeared to be deeply perturbed.

“Has he… Do you… Have you seen… more?” Carlisle asked desperately. Alice knew he had taken a liking to Charlie Swan in the brief time they have been living here in Forks.

Alice shook her head. “I’m sorry. I tried looking, but I’ve got nothing new yet.”

“Why the long faces, folks?” Emmett cheerfully asked as he and Rose entered the living room from ~~their make out session~~ the kitchen.

“Bella Swan was shopping in Seattle and ran into Aro Volturi.” Jasper succinctly summarised.

“You’re shitting me.” Emmett gaped at them in the deadly silent room. “The Baddest Baddie of them Volturi vamps bumped into Tasty Swan?”

“And what happened then? Is she… Did he…” Rose could not even finish the question.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to see more, but there's still nothing else…”

Esme quietly sat down next to Carlisle, clearly having heard their conversation as well, and placed her head on his shoulder.

“Aro will know we are here.” Carlisle quietly said after several sobering minutes had gone by, peering at his hands in front of him. “He might decide to visit. …After.”

Alice got a brief flash of-

_Aro Volturi and Carlisle sitting in what looked like Carlisle’s office at the hospital and laughing._

“What did you see?” Rosalie impatiently asked her.

“Aro will visit you tomorrow at the hospital.” Alice said and closely looked at Carlisle’s face when his head shot up. “You were both laughing about something in your office.” Alice reluctantly added. _All that hard work of Edward_ _and_ _Alice_ _. **Gone.** _But she should not be so surprised, it was going to happen eventually. There had never been any doubt about **_if_** it will happen, but rather the **_when_** it will happen. Alice supposed they had delayed Aro and Carlisle reconnecting for as long as it had been in their power.

A pained expression crossed Carlisle’s face before resigned acceptance and understanding replaced it.

“I see.”

“It should be a good sign, honey, shouldn’t it?” Esme asked. Carlisle let out a bitter laugh, but it turned light in the end.

“With Aro?” Carlisle vaguely smiled, “You can never know anything when it comes to Aro.”

“You love him.” Jasper said in startled surprise and all of their heads whipped to the ~~annoyed~~ unhappy expression on Carlisle’s face.

“I do. He is a dear friend.” Carlisle admitted in a far too chilly voice. _Cold_.

“And you feel guilt towards him.” Jasper cautiously continued but irresistible curiosity could still be heard in his words, “Why is that?”

For a moment, Carlisle looked as if he wanted to throttle Jasper, before his anger washed away and he leaned his head in his hands.

“I did not tell him about the shifters here. He doesn’t know. But it looks like he will find out soon enough.”

“Why would it matter-”

“His wife was bitten by a werewolf. Clearly you can see _why_.” Carlisle talked over Jasper.

“…Shit.”

Suddenly Alice was swept into another vision-

_A bedroom. Somewhere very high up. A large bed. And on it were Bella Swan and Aro Volturi._   
_And... and... and... they were having sex. Aro’s lips tracing her neck, biting her, drinking her blood._   
_Bella screaming in pain._

Alice’s breath caught in her throat as the vision ended.

How _... how **could** he_? Alice shuddered.

 _With a **human**? _Alice shuddered again.

“Alice?” Carlisle asked. Alice looked around to the expectant faces of her family.

“They were in what looked like a hotel bedroom.” Alice looked to the still expectant but unsuspecting faces of her family. Unsuspecting. Still unsuspecting. Lucky ones. **_But not for long_** -

“They were having sex.” Alice whispered.

The silence in the living room was deafening. Until-

“WHAT?!” Rosalie shouted. Esme, Emmett and Jazz looked stupefied.

Carlisle looked as if he was in pain again.

“…And then he started feeding on her.” Alice quietly finished.

“While he was still fucking-” Emmett asked, flabbergasted.

“ ** _Yes!_** _Jesus_ , Emmett. Yes…” Alice exclaimed. What a night…

All of her family looked shell-shocked.

Carlisle had stopped breathing and his eyes had become shiny with venom.

Finally Jasper voiced what they were all thinking to themselves.

“Aro Volturi killed Bella Swan.”


	2. You're so cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Sexual content. Dubious consent in the beginning. And Aro's (a little) creepy in this one, consider yourselves warned (and mind the tags).

Aro locked the suite’s door behind him and dropped three of the girl’s shopping bags on the floor and approached the human girl who was still holding the other two bags in both her hands, her unblinking gaze glued to the windows overlooking Elliott Bay.

Aro slowly pressed himself to her back, effectively startling her out of his spell, and sneaked his left arm around her waist and pulled her against him.

He brushed her long mahogany locks aside from her pale alabaster neck with the pads of his right hand fingers and pressed a kiss to her very warm skin.

The strange human was so silent.

His gift failed to work on her still.

There was _Nothing_.

Just burning warm skin, a suddenly racing heart, the sound of the bags, which had been held in her hands, hitting the carpeted floor.

“ _Mister Voltu_ -” the girl nervously breathed out but abruptly cut off as he cupped her left breast in his right palm and kissed the hollow of her neck.

The girl smelled like Didyme. Not exactly, but very similar. Her unique scent was lighter than his sister’s had been. _Softer_. Aro could not wait to taste her, to touch her smooth, scalding body, her silent alabaster skin, to be inside her, _have her sweet, sweet blood._

_He missed his sister so much._

“Ar-” The girl tried to say between her rapid, shallow breaths.

He nibbled at her neck, lightly, barely scratching it with his sharp teeth while he traced his right hand down her belly, unbuttoned her jeans in one quick move and slipped his index and middle fingers inside her very tight, scorching body.

“ _A-Aro!_ ” The girl gasped in startled surprise as his fingers breached her burning silk walls. She was struggling, her breathing escalating as she clawed at his arms.

“Shh, angel. Don’t struggle.” Aro quietly whispered in her ear as he gently and _carefully_ moved his fingers, painting lazy circles within her while pressing them deeper every time and returned his attention to her beautiful neck.

It had been a long while since he had been with a human. ~~Or anyone~~.

Not since Sulpicia was one herself. ~~Not since her tragic death~~.

The girl’s shallow breathing hitched but the sweet thing did attempt to relax only to tense up again and make another attempt at her feeble struggling when his thumb pressed over her clit and a quiet moan slipped past her lips.

 _She was so warm_. He could not _wait_ to finally have her citrus fruit flavoured blood, for humans with such flavour blood were so _unbelievably_ _rare_. He had found only one other since his sister’s death. _One single human_ in four hundred and sixty four years. _Twice as unlikely as meeting one’s singer._ The scent of the girl’s blood was so _incredibly lovely_ it was making him lightheaded.

She pressed the side of her head to his chest, humming and making soft gasps when her breath caught as he played her body like a violin. He gently rubbed her clit, making her release a truly desperate sound, before he applied more pressure on it.

The girl cried out and twitched in his arms, wet heat pouring down his hand as her orgasm crashed over her.

The air around them had become saturated with the sweet girl’s wonderful citrusy scent.

Aro pulled his hand away from her moist heat and lifted it to his lips, and slowly licked her juicy release off it. She tasted almost exactly like-

The human was still a bit dazed so Aro effortlessly picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

He had never experienced for himself how every other single person felt during sex. He was always, _always_ inside his lovers’ heads as well. Always feeling the echo of their pleasure mixed with his own. And he _always_ knew what his lovers wanted, what they did not like, _how far he could push them_ …

Not with this strange girl.

Even when her first climax had hit her, her mind had stayed completely silent.

It was truly baffling. Apart from her sweet blood and the promise of as of yet uncharted personal experience of sleeping with someone **_silent_** , Aro had wanted to try and find out if he would get something from the lovely human, anything, a glimpse inside her thoughts, when her baseline conscious state was altered _, but there was still nothing_ …

(Somewhere at the far back of his mind a tiny, desperate, pleading voice, barely a tremor really, begged for him to cease this madness. It whispered that the girl was completely inexperienced, still a child, not yet ready for this-)

But Aro _wanted_ her.

Perhaps he had used his thrall on her a little. It had worked on her, even if her mind was still silent. Gifts were tricky like that. As were anything mind related. (He had not been able to enthrall Signorina Camilli at all, as hard as he had tried).

The girl was old enough anyw-

…

…

…

…WAS SHE?!

He did not know.

_Dear Fate._

Aro set the human on the bed and removed her pink boots.

Thankfully, she was rapidly coming back to her senses.

“That was… _insane_.” She whispered and her catty chocolate eyes found his obsidian ones. “It felt _incredible_ , Aro…”

Aro grinned. But-

“How old are you, angel?” She looked… Aro had no idea. Twenty three? Twenty? Twenty six? Less? More?

“I’m seventeen.”

… _fuck_.

“…Are you quite certain of this?” Aro asked imploringly, searching the girl’s eyes, her face and her body language for the smallest of tells that she was being untruthful, but found nothing.

“What kind of a que-” The girl started to say, but her mind seemed to catch on to something- “Yes. Of course. I _am_ seventeen. I know I look younger but _I really am seventeen_. Besides. The age of consent here is sixteen.”

Aro… did know this. A few of the board members were very wary of this fact.

And the girl was not lying.

“Thank you, angel.” Aro said, relieved (as if _seventeen_ was an acceptable number for him. Sweet Magic, he was irrefutably insane for wanting to pursue this any further, but he _did_ ). “I cannot tell hu- people’s ages.”

The girl laughed, joy and amusement dancing in her eyes.

“Neither can I! How old are you anyway? You look around twenty eight, but you seem much older.”

“Do I?” Aro said as he moved closer to her and began to pull her brown lambswool sweater off her, only for the girl to try and take it off herself and get stuck with her right arm still in the sleeve as the sweater caught in her small gold stud earring.

“ _Seriously?!”_ the girl tried to yank the sweater off with force, “For the love of-” but suddenly stopped- “ _shit_ …” tried again-

“Angel, _stop_. You’ll hurt yourself.” The girl ceased her angry struggles and released a heavy, mortified breath beneath the brown wool mess on her head.

“Stay still.” Aro leaned closer, gently touched the girl’s fiery neck beneath the difficult piece of clothing, then her earlobe and deftly unhooked the faint wool thread that had wrapped itself around the earring and pulled the sweater off, messing up her hair in the process.

“Err. _Thanks_.” The girl brushed her hair away from her now scarlet face and looked back at him with huge chocolate eyes, which were getting darker with every second that inaudibly ticked by. “…And yes, _you do_.”

“Well…” Aro pulled off his suit jacket and threw it on the settee by the bed, next to where he had deposited the girl’s sweater and did the same with his white floral silk tie.

“I am much older than you are imagining, angel.” Aro grinned at her as he leaned in and kissed her warm and soft, _so soft_ , lips. She smelled like _mandarins_. Almost exactly like-

“You cannot be _that_ old, Aro.” The girl said as she pulled away from him and kicked her socks and jeans off.

“You couldn’t possibly be older than thirty-five.” She watched him swiftly ( _at a glacial pace_ ) take off his black shirt, and slip off his red leather loafers and his black slacks and his silk underwear.

“I am.” Aro watched and felt her eyes roam the naked expanse of his body. _Even her gaze was scalding_. “Older.”

She was such a beautiful human. Aro moved closer to her, easily lifted her on his lap and put his hands on her scorching hips and kissed and lightly sucked on the hollow of her neck for a long while (she had a very beautiful neck, ~~necks were the ultimate weakness for most vampires and he was no different in this than the next undead immortal)~~. He unclasped and removed her bra, causing her eyes to snap open and heat rise to her cheeks again (his human was a shy one, wasn’t she? ‘ _Just as many other teenagers would be’_ , that faint irritatingly sensible voice whispered in his ear), all the while kissing her neck and face and making her slowly lean backwards until her back hit the bed. He could not wai-

“Are you like, _forty_ , then?” She asked as she touched his arms and shoulders, his neck with her warm palms, _persistently clinging to the issue_ , but it was apparent she was trying not to give in as soon as before. _A challenge_. _How positively delightful!_

“’Cause my dad’s forty. It would be weird it you were that old, Ar- _ooh_.” Aro lightly sucked on her rosy nipple which instantly hardened under his icy (to her) tongue. Aro felt her shudder.

“ _Why_ are you so _cold_ \- Oh God.” He lightly squeezed the bud between his fingertips and moved to her other one, covering it with his venom as well and rendering her momentarily speechless with the sensation.

She was _so bloody warm_. **Burning**. He wanted to bask in her heat forever-

“I’m older than your father, angel.” Her warm hands had found his hair and had entwined in his long strands. Aro left a trail of kisses on her **_silent_** , burning skin and dipped his tongue inside her belly button.

“ _Ooh_ , _my God_ , don’t stop. I don’t fucking care, Aro! Just… _please don’t stop_.”

Aro trailed his hands down from her breasts to her hips again ( _how on earth do others stand this kind of silence from their lovers?!_ How could they be this _**alone**_ in their heads? Always? He knew they were, their memories and feelings showed as much, however. He was rapidly finding this feeling abnormally perplexing).

Aro quickly slipped off her black panties, carelessly letting them drop somewhere on the floor and trailed his hands over her slim legs, to her knees, and spread her legs wider apart so he could more easily reach her sex and dipped his venom coated tongue between her slick, flaming folds.

She tried moving away, tried to escape the stimulation but Aro’s hold on her was too strong as he continued to suck on her clit and lick her sex.

“I- I think I ch- _Oh God_ … my _mind_ … _Aro_ … this is too m-” he pushed his wet tongue into her scorching centre- “Fuck! _Aro. Ohmy… fuck_ …” the girl let out a loud, pleasure filled moan, drowning in the feeling.

She was so incredibly responsive. He wanted to be inside her, _now_. And her blood. Aro wanted her sweet, sweet blood just as much, if not more (-the initial reason he had tracked her down through the city).

He pulled away from her, moving over her body and saw how heavily she was breathing, heard how fast her heart was beating inside her chest, which-

“Child. Your heart is in the wrong place.” _How… very… odd_.

_What was **wrong** with this human??_

“ _What_ … Oh. _That_. Yeah. How could you t-” she absentmindedly muttered taking deep oxygen filled breaths, “Yes, everything else is… like that too.”

How peculiar. She was a rare gem indeed.

Aro pressed himself down on her, not enough to crush her, of course, but enough for her to feel him-

“ _Jesus effing Christ_ _!_ Why are you so fucking _cold_!” She yelled and made him laugh. Aro had forgotten how ridiculously funny it was to sleep with humans.

“Don’t laugh!” The girl hissed in annoyance and glared up at him, but the corners of her mouth were twitching, trying to stretch her lips into a smile, “it’s so not funny. I’m _freezing_ _to death_ here-”

“Genetics, angel.” Aro answered between light nips to her alabaster skin.

“Are you _fucking_ with me?!” She exclaimed in disbelief.

She was such an odd human. Usually they were so uneasy and scared of him (practically everyone, _always_ ). This slip of a girl did not fear him in the least. There was definitely something wrong with her. Aro was certain of it.

“Yes.” Aro huffed a laugh and a wicked grin stretched on his face. He deeply kissed her, carefully coaxing her lips and teeth apart with his tongue. Her mouth was just as hot as the rest of her. The strange human tasted simply _divine_ -

He couldn’t stand this anymore, his restraint was not without limitation-

“Have you had sex before, angel?” Aro asked (although he could easily tell she hadn’t) after breaking the kiss and switching to nipping at her exquisite neck _again_ (he simply could not help himself) and letting the strange human take in her much needed oxygen dose.

“No… No, I haven’t.” The girl confessed between her fast breaths.

“It may hurt a little. For a moment.” Aro said, looking in her dark, catlike eyes.

“…I know.” Aro smiled at her, one of his warm smiles and softly grasped her hands, which had been resting in his hair and on the back of his neck, in both of his and held them by her head.

“Hold on as tight as you need, angel.”

The girl nodded and kept looking in his eyes as he slowly, _very slowly_ , began to slide his cock into her tight, scorching body, being extremely mindful of the squashy human beneath him.

_Such trust._

She bit her lip, and grabbed his hands in a very strong grip, for a human, and kept looking in his eyes, until he was fully enclosed in her tense body, without breaking eye contact with him whilst taking shallow breaths. (Practically any other human would have started screaming bloody murder after five seconds of this close, uninterrupted eye contact with him.)

 _She was so bloody_ _hot_. _Oh, he had **missed** this._

Aro placed soft kisses on her slightly puzzled face as he stayed unmoving insider her fire while her confusion continued to grow.

He was not sure she would have so easily allowed him to touch her if she knew how strong he was. That one careless movement of his could crush her bones as if they were no different than soap bubbles. _However_. Aro has had millennia of practice in dealing with fragile humans. He did it completely subconsciously by now. There would not be any accidental breaks because he, for some mystical reason, _for a fraction of a moment,_ forgot that he was with a human, not a vampire.

“You’re so cold.” The girl said through her slight discomfort, but her tense muscles were gradually becoming more lax, as she adjusted to the alien feeling. Usually, this was the turning point for most humans to finally fully catch on that something was _not quite_ ~~at all~~ _right with him_ -

“ _What are you?_ ” She breathed in sudden, expected realisation, her startled eyes jumping between his, back and forth, trying to find the answer hiding somewhere in them.

Aro slid out of her a little before very lightly thrusting forward and deeply kissed her again.

She tried freeing her hands, so he let them go and felt his hair being tightly pulled on a second later.

_He had millions of second hand echoes of how other people felt, every day, how alone they were when they touched others._

He carded his hand through her thick mahogany hair, brushing the soft skin of her neck with the other-

_The word ‘intimacy’ meant something completely different to them than it meant to Aro._

But to experience this _for himself?_ It felt so unbelievably… bizarre.

He kept moving within her, together with her, and kissing her, but she needed her precious oxygen again so he drew his mouth further down to her lovely neck.

He could feel the girl starting to panic a little but he could not refuse himself anymore-

“ _Ohmygod_ … What- I- Se- _Seriously_ , _what **are** _you-”

Aro sank his diamond sharp teeth in her irresistible neck, in clear response (it should make it obvious to her now, _what he was_ ) and making the girl scream from the unexpected pain.

There was still absolutely nothing he could detect from her mind as her crimson essence of life spilled on his tongue.

 _Sweet Magic_ , she tasted like _home_.

He swallowed the blood and released a hefty amount of pain numbing and euphoria inducing agents into her bloodstream, which quieted her pained crying nearly instantly.

Her poor heart was fluttering in her chest as fast as a hummingbird’s…

Aro pulled more blood from her, gradually increasing the pace of his movements.

The strange human’s heat felt _wonderful_ … and her blood tasted exceptionally lovely.

And he could still not hear or see a _thing_.

Except for her delirious whimpers and moans.

Aro stilled inside her, released her neck, letting her blood flow freely from his bite. It had the intended effect of saturating the air around them with the heady fragrance of her blood. He pushed himself up to look at the lovely sight of the girl slowly bleeding beneath him. _She looked so beautiful like this_.

Then he leaned in and bit down on the other side of her neck.

The girl climaxed for the second time tonight, her scorching walls tightening around his cock and Aro finally let the waves of pleasure crash over him as he came inside her.

Sweet Darkness, he had missed this.

_Why on earth had he stayed away from humans for so bloody long?_

He really did prefer sleeping with humans over vampires. With a couple of notable but very dead exceptions. (Humans did not possess as much ‘baggage’ as centuries old vampires did. For Aro, _his gift_ , the amount of information gathered in the short lifespans of humans were not nearly as intrusive as reliving the long lives of immortals while touching them. But to see _absolutely **nothing**_? And Aro loved how warm humans were compared to his own kind (but he knew many other immortals found the human warmth unnerving.))

And to find one that was immune to his inherent passive gift? Even more, one whose scent strongly reminded him of his beloved sister?

He drew a few more mouthfuls form the unconscious girl. Roughly one pint in total. Not nearly enough to weaken or hinder her.

Then he licked all the sluggishly flowing blood from her neck, closing the wounds in the process.

The human will have faintly visible teeth marks on her beautiful alabaster neck. Nothing to be done about that except perhaps applying a light concealer to them. Or until she got sun on her skin, which, _let’s be realistic_ , was not going to happen here in Seattle, was it?

He gently lifted the soundly and _silently_ sleeping girl up and carefully placed her between the sheets. ( _Even in her sleep_. Dear Fate but the human was gifted. He could not believe the sheer potential. But… could it be the strange human blocked only his gift?)

Aro strongly suspected the girl will be out cold for at least an hour.

So he got off the bed, had a shower to wash any traces of her blood off himself and put on another pair of trousers, threw on the first shirt he found and looked in the bathroom mirror.

His eyes had become crimson once more with the girl’s blood; his hunger chased away at least for another month.

_Renata and Caius will be so very pleased._

He knew Renata was already scheming how to get him to eat something as soon as he returned home.

Sweet darling Renata. _She loved him so_.

A phone (not his) started ringing in the bedroom. Not a second later he had found it in the sleeping girl’s jeans and silenced the loud noise. It would not do to wake the child up. She needed her rest right now.

It was Charlie Calling.

Who was this Charlie person?

The call ended. A minute later a voicemail message popped up on the display.

Aro made sure that the girl was still soundly sleeping and went to listen to the message in the living room.

An adult man’s bass voice filled the room-

“Bells! Hey, kiddo. Uh… The thing is… I know you said you will be home around ninish, but… another body has been found by the docks. I have to go into the station right now and then visit the… scene, so I won’t be home tonight, honey. I’m sorry. And _please_ be careful. This is the third animal attack in as many weeks. Anyway… I gotta go now. I love you, kid.”

The recorded message ended.

How curious. The strange girl’s father worked for the police. And animal attacks? The human had not sounded completely certain about his claim. Interesting. Something did not feel quite right with that situation.

 _However. This meant her father won’t be home tonight_.

And it had sounded as if no one else was waiting for the girl at home tonight either.

Which meant he had more time with his tasty human than he had expected, before she had to leave for- Where did she even live? In the city? _Very likely_. But it was Sunday. So perhaps _not_.

Aro went to her shopping bags, retrieved her jacket from one of them and fished out her wallet from the jacket’s pocket.

It contained one hundred and twenty five dollars in cash, one bank card, several loyalty cards to various stores, a driver’s licence-

(The girl’s name was Isabella Marie Swan. And she indeed was seventeen years old.)

-and a student card. Fork’s High School, Washington State.

…

 _…A high-schooler_.

He had slept with a high-schooler.

Caius will not let him live this down for the next two decades, the bastard.

Renata will lose the ability of speech for a week.

Phillippa-

Aro froze.

_…Better she does not find out at all._

Aro… scanned the copies of every single mind of the Seattle branch employees he had shook hands with and only one of the thirty-seven people knew where Forks even was.

Some back-water town in the Olympic Peninsula, not far from the ocean.

Some three hundred kilometre drive away from Seattle. Around four hours from here, if no traffic regulations were breached.

It was already six in the evening.

And tomorrow was Monday. _A school day_.

The girl should probably not miss it _or arrive late_.

But they had all the rest of the night to themselves, before she had to leave in the morning.

Hopefully she won’t pass out as soon next time.

 _Humans_.

Aro retrieved his laptop from the bedroom and perched down on the sofa by the nice view of the Ferris wheel to investigate the little mischief someone from his family was responsible for.

It turned out the Seattle branch was not the only one that had suffered the surge of devil themed cars. Practically all of them had been infected with the blasted things, except Adelaide and Porto.

Fucking Felix.

And every one of the cars had been given locally religiously or superstitiously unacceptable or just plain idiotically themed licence plates, some implying very unflattering things about Aro himself.

What had that stupid oaf been _thinking._

He had not read Felix's mind almost as long as Phillippa had worked for them.

Aro had had enough of seeing the lovely, professional, _bright_ Signorina Camilli, the owner of an irrefutably brilliant mind, _Aro’s drinking buddy_ **_and_** **_a_** _**dear friend**_ featuring in Felix’s lewd fantasies. He had ordered Renata to not leave his friend’s side and make sure Felix did not do anything stupid while Aro was away. Felix had become increasingly more obsessed with the poor ( _not so much anymore, was she?_ ) girl in the past month. Ever since Christmas.

Felix had given Phillippa a diamond ring as a present from him. It had made her so incredibly uncomfortable. She had returned the ring back to Felix, despite her greedy nature. Aro could only speculate that the lovesick fool had not taken the clear rejection well.

Aro knew this was a very real problem back home that needed solving. And soon. As soon as he wrapped up dealing with the company's business here in Seattle.

He had come alone to the annual _Valerian Incorporated_ shareholder’s meeting in the States, where all the Chief Officers and the directors of each of the seven USA branches as well as a few scientists from the _Labs_ were gathered to discuss the previous year and the direction and the goals the company was sailing forward to.

Thank Fate, Misty (Head of Research and Development) and Mark ( _Valerian Incorporated_ Medical lawyer who had been an excellent surgeon in his human life) had been there as well. Thus Aro had not been the only one suffering through three hour long briefings and presentations and speeches from _food_. (It had been his turn to go to the meeting as Caius had been to the three previous ones and had categorically refused to sit through a single other meeting because Aro’s turn to go instead of Caius was long overdue).

The dreadfully boring meeting had happened on Friday.

Yesterday morning (Saturday), before he had returned to Volterra with Emil, a call had come in, informing him that the branch had been robbed and sensitive information of the humans’ research had been stolen.

Thus Aro had stayed to investigate to speed the process up.

All employees of the Seattle Headquarters had been called into work and interrogated. Twenty three handshakes later, it was revealed that a greedy scientist had stolen the data of a very important (even if it was human research) breakthrough in finding a cure for leukaemia to sell for the highest price to the highest bidding _Valerian Incorporated_ competitor. And she was pretending as if nothing had happened. Foolish girl. He had sicced Mark on her immediately.

Had Demetri been there with him (sadly, he had been sent to China for bad behaviour) Aro would have allowed Demetri to eat her.

Aro _loathed_ disloyalty. With a burning passion. More than Renata loathed Demetri and more than Aro loathed cursing.

He could have gone home yesterday, for all he would have to do was call Emil and they would be up in the air, heading back to Italy in minutes, but Aro had wanted to clear his head and had gone flying by himself in the night’s cover.

The relatively remote north had allowed for quite the enjoyable flight.

It had been spectacular. (Aro had promised himself to go flying more often, even if he had to disappear from the Castle for extended periods of time. For it was _so worth it_.)

He had returned only in the morning and had drunk three bottles of pinot noir and tried to lock up the memories of his wife and sister under several more layers. They had floated up from the bottom of his replica of the Mariana Trench where he safeguarded their memories by sinking them to the very bottom of the Challenger Deep.

It was imperative to secure them and sink them back down again. And lock them up even tighter than before.

The echoes of both of them had been interfering with his questionable sanity too much in the past year, so, with dread holding his heart captive, he had gone looking and discovered that the trench was missing two of his children.

Aro had made slight progress in this, but all this mental exercise had reminded him of how his last meal had been the little blond girl with pigtails in the ocean blue Cinderella dress at the end of November, before they had left for Japan.

Thus he had gone out to find a tasty human for himself. Seattle was a fairly large city. One missing person, even ten missing persons would not be anything out of the ordinary. Not that he needed more than one.

He had caught Isabella’s enticing scent which so strongly reminded him of Didyme’s that he had spent the next hour and a half tracking her scent, which had disappeared and then reappeared only to disappear again, through the city’s streets and malls until he had finally found the girl standing in front of a beautiful crimson dress at a Dolce & Gabbana store.

Aro went to their homepage and ordered one in Isabella’s size to be delivered to his suite within the next couple of hours.

Then he went to Forks High School’s homepage and learned that their lessons started at nine in the morning.

After, he visited Forks Police Department’s homepage and learned from the very publicly accessible information that Charlie was none other than Charlie Swan, the City of Forks Chief of Police. (A _city_ …in which three thousand one hundred and twenty people resided. _Preposterous_.)

Aro heard Isabella waking up. He had left her bags near the bed and placed a bath towel on the corner of the bed for her to use, if she had a desire to take a shower.

Aro heard her getting up, shifting through some of her newly purchased things and closing the bathroom door behind her.

He ordered dinner to be brought up, as well as another bottle of pinot noir.

Twenty minutes later the human cautiously emerged from the bedroom, her hair still wet from the shower, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw his unmistakably red eyes.

He had put on deep red sunglasses when the staff had brought up dinner for Isabella and Isabella’s crimson dress. (Aro did not enjoy suffering through the feeling of contact lenses in his eyes, not if he could escape it).

“I see you have awakened, Isabella.” Aro said with a small smile as he motioned for the girl to help herself to the food. “I took the liberty of ordering dinner for you. I thought you might have missed having it today.”

The girl slowly approached him and the table and sat down on the adjacent sofa a little farther away than he had expected, but… it was not really that surprising, given the circumstances.

“I see _you_ have gone through my things to finally find out my name, Aro.” The girl dryly retorted. _A cheeky little thing as well_. Aro stared at her, amused.

“I guess I should feel flattered you cared to learn it at all. …Considering.” The girl was still staring at his eyes.

It was so very apparent she found his crimson red eyes fascinating.

“You’re so beautiful.” Isabella whispered under her breath, so quietly it was likely she did not hear the words herself. Many people thought this. It was also the reason he had chosen to whisk her to his suite in the first place. Aro had seen that she was attracted to him and thus the utterly whimsical decision to sleep with her had unexpectedly but instantaneously formed in his mind. One of his better decisions as of late, as it turned out.

“And clearly not human,” Isabella observed much louder.

“Are you really a vampire?” The girl asked still transfixed by his red gaze.

The corners of Aro’s lips twitched and he let the grin stretch on his face.

“I am.”

“ _How?!_ How is this _real_?! _How can you be **real**_? This is crazy.” The girl exclaimed. How curious. She was still not properly scared. Despite him drinking from her without warning or permission. _How very strange_.

“Angel, aren’t you hungry?” Aro motioned to the food again as he leaned forward and took the opened wine bottle and poured himself half a glass.

“I’m starving.” The human said and helped herself to some shrimp salad.

“I can’t believe _vampires_ are real.” The girl whispered the word ‘vampires’, she was so adorable; even if _or exactly because_ the girl must have at least a few shrews loose herself. _Aro could relate_.

“Do you all live in the north? Is that why there are so many of you up here?”

“I beg your pardon?” Aro did a double take, and, he did not want to admit it, almost chocked on his wine.

“You are the sixth vampire I have met since I moved to Washington State a week ago!” Isabella exclaimed in fascinated horror.

“…The _sixth_?” Aro heard himself ask in justified disbelief.

Aro’s ears must be malfunctioning. He had been dubbed with the number **_six_**?

Aro was utterly astounded. And he did not like the feeling or the offending number one iota.

**Number six!**

_He could hear Fate loudly laughing behind his back._

“Um. Yeah? There are five of them attending my high school. They look just like you. And rumour has it their parents have the same peculiar appearance. I haven’t met them yet though. Their parents.”

Aro had no words.

He knew, theoretically, that the Cullens tended to _do_ _this_ … kind of thing (attend high schools and universities) but to have it said out loud by a human who had clearly noticed the bunch of idiots… To learn that humans _gossiped_ about the Cullens due to their clearly unbelievable lies and unnatural appearance?

“Are they still going by the name ‘Cullen’?” Aro wryly asked.

“Yes! How did you-? And Hale. Rosalie and Jasper Hale. Supposedly they are all adopted. But they have such similar features they could all be blood siblings!” Isabella said with sparkling eyes before stuffing another spoon of shrimp salad in her mouth.

Aro.

Stared at the door.

The doorknob looked as if it was very well cared for.

It had been recently polished to a bright bronze sheen.

Most of the time, he spent his days and nights in the Castle, solving disputes, upholding their laws, sending the family where they needed to be sent to punish the most disobedient and stupid of their kind, taking care of their company along with Caius and… and drinking.

The wine was good. The most amazing thing right after flying.

Aro loved wine.

Aro _adored_ wine.

He gulped all the wine down and leaned forward. He took the bottle and filled his wineglass almost to the rim. And proceeded to swallow it down as well.

To have a human child tell him his dear friend Carlisle’s family were acting like clowns in a small, gossipy town of three thousand one hundred and twenty people? Making food curious and suspicious with their clearly alien appearance? Had the animal blood erased any common sense they had ever possessed?

“Carlisle Cullen is a dear old friend of mine. But I have not seen him in person for almost three hundred years.” Aro finally said and saw how her eyes widened and the spoon slipped from her hand. It would have surely fallen to the floor, but Aro slightly changed the trajectory, so it clattered on the table instead.

“Three hundred years!?” Isabella cried out. “ _You are three hundred years old!?_ ” She was gaping.

“Older.” Aro smirked. This was fun.

“How old exact-” she cut herself off, “You know what? I think I don’t want to know.” Isabella said and poured a cup of still warm coffee from the coffee pot for herself and took a slice of chocolate cake from the table.

“It probably is for the best, angel.” Aro said. He waited for Isabella to take a long sip of her coffee- “Your father called,” -and instantly half the table was covered in the dark brown liquid, as Isabella spit and coughed out all the coffee which had been in her mouth.

By Magic. Humans were hilarious. She looked at him with such accusation, dread, annoyance and even fear. Plus she had paled even though a blush was spreading on her cheeks.

“You are such a bastard.” Isabella quietly accused before taking a white flax handkerchief from the table and wiping down her mouth and chin. And her hands.

“My apologies, Isabella.” Aro innocently smiled.

“ _Mhm_. Right.”

“I did not answer, if you were wondering. But I did listen to the voicemail message.”

“A _nosy_ bastard.” The human whispered.

Aro carried on as if he had not heard her. “Apparently another body has been found and your father won’t be home tonight. Here.” Aro handed the human her phone and listened to her father’s message once more as she replayed the voicemail.

“It’s… _it’s probably for the best_. I won’t have to lie to him about why I am home so late.” Isabella sighed and looked out of the window to the dark night sky. “I. I should probably get going.” Isabella reluctantly said. Aro suspected she wanted to ask him a million questions.

Poor child. She did not yet know that her time was rapidly running out.

“Isabella. We have the rest of the night to ourselves.” Aro patiently explained the obvious.

“Wha- You mean-” A deep scarlet colour blossomed on her lovely face and saturated the air with her wonderful citrus fragrance.

“ _Yes_. And you won’t pass out as soon this time, angel.” Aro closed his laptop, put it aside and appeared right next to her on the sofa, making her jump up in her seat and look at him with startled but nevertheless darkening chocolate eyes. Oh, she definitely wanted to continue their fun.

“And I promise not to bite you without permission again.” Aro carefully picked her up and set her on his lap, and began marking the skin on her neck with love bites.

“I. I would _love_ to. _Really_. I want nothing more- You have no idea how much-” and he really didn’t. How utterly fascinating, “-but I will miss school.” Because she was a high school student. _Good grief_.

“I will take you to Forks in the morning, angel.” Aro impulsively promised as he slipped his hands beneath her shirt and continued decorating her neck. “You won’t miss school tomorrow.”

“Ar-Aro. I can’t- _Oh_ … _right_ _there_. _Oh my God, Aro_. **_Don’t stop_**.” Isabella moaned and pressed herself as close to him as possible and wrapped her hands behind his neck.

“Do you agree?”

“Yes, _yes_ , I do. _God_.”

“Excellent.” Aro grinned. He lifted her up in his arms, carried her to the bedroom and threw her on the bed, making her squeal in joy.


	3. The shark and the goldfish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: suicidal thoughts; speeding

Isabella and Aro entered the underground parking space of the Four Seasons hotel ten hours later. He led them to the black Maserati Coupé he had taken from the Seattle branch the day before yesterday after exposing the thief.

He had not exactly needed it then, but he had had the sudden wish to go flying and he had judged it less conspicuous if he drove to the outskirts of Seattle before disappearing in the night sky.

This whimsy had led him to uncover the absolute idiocy Felix had shown when messing with the licence plates. (Aro knew Felix had been very unhappy ~~(seething with mute rage)~~ with Aro for enforcing the ban on their secretaries, but to play such a petty, juvenile- it could not even be considered a prank- it was beyond moronic, what the fool had done – drawing unwanted attention to Aro’s person. There will be hell to pay, when he got back.)

The girl was quietly following him. And she was half asleep. She had passed out around ten. It was six in the morning now.

He had woken the sleepy human up half an hour ago and sent her to take a shower.

She had even blow-dried her long hair in her half-asleep state, but Aro could still discern faint traces of his scent on the child, despite the shower gel and shampoo she had used, thus he could only deduce that the venom he had released in her bloodstream was still colouring her natural scent.

Which.

Was not _bad_ , per se… But if her school really was swarmed with the Cullen kind then every single one of them will know she had been in close contact with _a vampire_ recently. Not that they would recognise and identify Aro’s scent. _Not yet_. But it was more than possible the little seer has had a vision of the new girl in town meeting Aro in Seattle.

Well.

Nothing to be done about that. It was already too late (not that he would have changed a thing, had he known about the Cullens sooner).

Aro unlocked the car and put Isabella’s shopping bags (with the crimson red dress smuggled beneath her other purchases for her to find later) inside the car’s trunk.

The girl approached the passenger side door and tripped on flat concrete ground, almost crashing to the hard, unforgiving floor of the parking garage, before catching herself on the car’s door handle.

“I’m fine!” The girl exclaimed and then informed him-, “This happens every day. _Please ignore_ ,” -in mortification.

Aro had noticed she was a bit clumsier than the average human. Poor dear, Aro wondered why that was ( _and what was it like to live like that?_ ). Anyway, she should experience slight improvement to her senses soon. The altered venom had not been specifically intended to affect her beyond numbing the pain of the bites and inducing a euphoric reaction in her, but he had healed the bite wounds and bruises after she had fallen asleep. It should have a positive influence on her whole system as well in a short while. Minimal, but one nonetheless.

“I do not mind your habit of being tragically uncoordinated. We all have our pet vices, don’t we?” Aro asked after getting into the driver’s seat and closed the door behind him.

“…Right.” Isabella despondently mumbled as she got in the passenger seat herself.

Aro started the engine and rolled the car between the other parked vehicles in the hotel’s garage until he drove up to street level, past the hotel’s parking security gate and finally on the nearly empty (compared to daytime) street. Not many people were up at this early hour.

“Um. Aro?”

“Mmm?”

“What about my car?” Isabella cautiously asked, “I need to get it back you know.”

“Someone will move it to Forks and leave it at your school before the day is through.”

“…What.” Aro could not help but smile at her dumbfounded expression.

“You will have it back. It is no problem.”

“The keys are still with me.” Isabella lifted an inquiring eyebrow.

“Thieves do not have keys as well, Isabella.” Aro informed with a small smile.

The human was finding this very funny for some reason. _Immoderately funny_. Aro felt that he was missing some crucial information here. Perhaps she had a very high level anti-theft security system installed? However, Aro had a hard time imagining such an actuality. The girl did not exactly scream ‘money’ to him.

Not that it would pose a problem for Emil either way.

“I feel I am missing something, child.” Aro was not accustomed to feeling this way. The girl’s amused expression turned into a mirthful grin.

“Well. I left it in Westlake Tower Garage.” Alright- “It’s a red 1953 Chevy pickup truck.” _Alright_ … It was an older Chevrolet. But Aro had no idea how such a car could even look. Cars did not hold any interest of his. It must have been obvious from his clueless expression that he had no idea what she was hinting at.

“And I see I’ve lost you.” Isabella observed, her lips curving up, her eyes warm and smiling.

“You have. I confess I am not a car enthusiast.” He knew _some_ things. _Of course_ he knew things about cars. He had touched plenty of people who were interested in cars, but none knew how this particular vehicle looked like. Which was… odd. That was wrong with it?

“What is wrong with your car, angel?”

“It is more of a question of what _is_ right with it.” Isabella huffed and turned her head away to look at the illuminated streets of Seattle. “It’s… sturdy.”

“And the bad news?”

“It is not a car anyone would want to steal. _Ever_. It’s loud. Very loud. And ugly. And _slow_. Sixty miles per hour is its top speed. And it _eats_ gas. I had to stop three times to refill the tank to get to Seattle. And it has the lovely flavour of hard mint candy, tobacco and pineapple scented air freshener tree. Not my choice, by the way.” Isabella threw him a quick look before recommencing her city-watching.

Aro was smiling. Poor, poor Emil. The oblivious chap had not an inkling about what kind of a torture device awaited him in Westlake Tower Garage.

“My dad got it for me from a friend as a sort of homecoming gift. It’s why I could afford to come to Seattle and dip into the funds I had saved for a more… nondescript car which I did not need to buy in the end.”

_Fate worked in mysterious ways, didn’t He?_

“Be that as it may. You will get your car back by the time school ends today, angel.”

“Alright. Thank you.” The human quietly but sincerely thanked him.

She was completely relaxed in her seat, head leaned against the headrest, lazily watching the few cars passing by and the brightly lit city.

She definitely lacked the instinct so many humans possessed, which screamed for them to run the other way from his kind.

Then again, it appeared she had no idea she should be afraid of him.

After all, he had not given any real reason to fear him.

She had no idea most vampires would just drink her dry in some dark alleyway. And leave her corpse there for stray dogs to find.

Most of his kind did not find sex with humans tempting or even pleasurable. To some the idea had never even crossed their undead minds.

Most would find the endeavour too laborious (to not crush the fragile humans with one unintentional move in a moment of inattention) to get any fun out of it.

To say nothing about controlling their bloodlust _or_ altering their venom.

And then there was the problem of the humans realising that the person they were having sex with was not ~~like them~~ human.

It tiptoed the line of the first law, if immortals revealed themselves to human lovers.

But.

Such small scale exposure was nothing overly concerning. Especially, if those humans were told the bare minimum or mislead completely. Or if they were _persuaded_ to not talk about vampires. Again, not everyone knew how to do this, but most of his kind could place a sufficient compulsion which would hold for a while and dissuade humans from revealing their secret. Ultimately, the curse claimed their lives soon after anyway. _One last safeguard_.

Aro had wanted to have a nice dinner, but he should have realised the second he had caught the sweet white peach and tangerine scent that he would not be able to kill this person. Anyway, he had foolishly pretended that he could do it, but he had known even then that he was lying to himself.

When Aro had finally found his mark and laid his eyes on the lovely human for the first time he should have realised the truth at once.

And when he had touched her and seen **nothing** , nothing but the attraction to him in her chocolate eyes, the sudden desire to have her had consumed him.

Thus he had whisked her away to his hotel after setting a faint spell on the girl to easier convince her to follow him the few blocks from the boutique in Pike Place Market to his suite in Four Seasons.

It had worn off completely the moment they had stepped inside his suite.

Ideal timing, really.

He liked his partners willing; not that the spell could make her do anything she did not want to do. It was slightly similar to hypnosis. No vampire could make a person do anything they did not desire under such a light charm he had placed on her (to make humans do something they did not want to do, one needed skill and intent _and magic_ to accomplish it. Very few of his kind were capable of this scale of mind control. It was not exactly a nice ability to have. Aro knew this. He knew this. Thus he was very careful when charming humans. Especially those ~~the only exception to his gift~~ whose thoughts could not warn him if something was wrong).

 _There was something about the girl_ … she would most likely be gifted if turned.

But she was so young.

Aro did not exactly condone turning humans who were barely more than children.

Jane and Alec being the obvious exceptions. In his defence, there had been mitigating circumstances that Fated day in 778.

But the girl will die ~~relatively~~ soon anyway… Even more, she knew about vampires and did not find his kind repulsive in the least.

Aro reached over the armrests and took her left burning hand in his. There was nothing he could see from her mind still. How unnatural. For Aro, feeling this kind of silence from a live human was inexplicably… weird. He could not get used to the feeling.

“Um. Aro? Why are you holding my hand?” She asked in puzzlement.

“You are very silent.”

“…okay?” She tilted her head to the right clearly waiting for him to elaborate on his statement.

“I cannot get a single strand of thought from you, child.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can read minds by physical contact. Memories, emotions.” Aro looked to her suddenly troubled eyes. She tried to yank her hand free so he tightened his hold on her jittery hand.

“Angel. Stop. I cannot get a single thing. It is so perplexing to me. I have never experienced such a thing.” Aro sincerely confessed. The girl stopped her struggles and turned to stare at him with dawning horror. “Everyone is so loud. _Always_. This is very nice,” Aro lifted their joined hands up a little and gingerly squeezed her soft palm, “to not see anything for a change.”

“You mean you can’t turn it off?” There was such compassion in her eyes.

“No. I cannot _turn it off_.” Aro lightly snorted as they drove past King County International Airport. “I use gloves. Most of the time.”

“That’s… I’m sorry, Aro.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, angel. I love my gift. It has made my life much easier in many ways, even if it has made it harder in equal measure.” Aro candidly divulged.

“Gift?” She was a quick human.

“Yes. It is what we call special, unique abilities some vampires have.”

“Huh.” Isabella hummed. “It’s so freaky to know vampires are real. I still can’t fully wrap my mind around it. Like, how is it even possible?!” She said completely bewildered with astonished eyes.

“Magic.”

“Seriously, Aro. Why don’t people know about vampires?” Isabella asked and saw his teasing smirk- “Argh! _You know what I mean_. Why don’t people know vampires really exist?”

“Hmm. We are very few compared to humans. Few thousand to your six point four billion.”

“It is a very well-kept secret.” Aro added and grinned the Cheshire smile, showing off his razor sharp, glistening teeth. “If you know what I mean.”

The human gaped at him.

And gaped at him.

And gaped some more.

Aro lightly brushed the back of her very warm hand with his thumb.

“Child. I promise I won’t eat you. I’m driving you to school, am I not?” Aro joked. Or tried to joke. He was not convinced he had succeeded-

“I. Yeah. You are.” Isabella breathed out and fell back into her seat. It was so curious. She had been shocked by his admittance. But not exactly scared. What was wrong with her? (And she seemed to have totally missed the fact that he was slightly crazy). It only strengthened his theory that she was not _All There_ herself. Perhaps it should not be so surprising. Historical evidence pointed to Aro being drawn to more or less crazy humans himself. Usually more.

Except Sulpicia.

She ~~was~~ had been the sanest, most stable person Aro has had the pleasure to have ever met and known. He had fallen so hard for her because of this. Not even the bond between them had shaken her deeply rooted sanity.

_Was this the reason he felt this adrift ever since her tragic death?_

_Had the bond between him and His Darling grounded him to such an extent?_

Aro blinked the wetness in his eyes away.

“ _You_ won’t eat me.” The girl muttered to herself. Aro clearly had not been meant to hear it.

“Are you worried about the Cullens, Isabella?” Aro asked. They were currently driving through Tacoma.

“It was my first day at Forks High last Tuesday.” Isabella said as she watched the buildings of Tacoma fly past them. “I’d seen _them_ at lunch-break and listened to my classmates talk about how they were all adopted by this hot new doctor in town and his wife who can’t have kids after the five of them walked in the canteen.”

“After lunch I had Biology. And the only free seat was next to Edward Cullen.” Ah. Carlisle’s first child. How unfortunate for Isabella.

“How very unfortunate for you, Isabella.” Aro voiced aloud. The girl huffed a laugh, gifting him with a fleetingly amused look, before her expression soured again.

“Exactly. He kept… _staring_ at me with _murderous, pitch black_ eyes the entire lesson. I had a feeling he wanted to kill me.” Isabella miserably said. “I guess he really did want to kill me.”

Aro frowned. The human sounded very upset. Perhaps her instincts were not as dull as he had first thought. _Or the boy had been so obvious a blind person could see his sordid intentions_.

“Then the bell rang and he was out of the door in seconds. And I haven’t seen him since.”

Interesting.

Very interesting.

“It is curious. The Cullens don’t drink human blood.” _Well_. _Most of them didn’t_. “Quite puzzling for the boy to act in such a manner.” And to get to the state of reaching pitch black eyes in a school full of children? Something was wrong with this equation.

“What? How can that be?” The human asked, intrigued.

“The Cullens drink animal blood instead. They call themselves ‘vegetarians’.” Aro smirked.

Isabella had successfully returned to gaping.

“The irony is not lost on me, angel.”

“Why would they do that? What’s the difference? Just… I don’t understand.” The girl looked to him with such catlike curiosity. Hmm. So far all the signs pointed to her being very taken with anything relating to vampires. Perhaps she would not mind becoming one herself…

“Carlisle. The new doctor in your small town. _My old friend_. He is a very compassionate being. Carly abhors the thought of taking a single human life for the purpose of feeding himself.” Aro understood. He had seen Carlisle’s mind. His reasoning. His feelings. His morals. His values. Aro understood. But it still did not mean he approved. “He discovered he could survive by consuming only animal blood. Elk, deer, bears. You understand.” Aro looked to Isabella’s fascinated face.

“While it is possible to live like that, it is a very hard and unpleasant existence. Vampires are not meant to consume anything but the blood of humans. I believe Carlisle to be a sort of exception to this rule for he did not experience even a quarter of the misery any other vampire would feel living on such a diet.”

“His family follows this exact same diet. But it is so much more difficult for the rest of them.”

After a bit of contemplation he added to highlight the difference between such ‘vegetarian’ vampires and the natural ones, “You can recognise animal drinkers by their golden eyes. All the rest have red.”

“Why did he have black eyes then? You did as well, at the store.”

“Our eyes darken in proportion to our hunger.” Isabella narrowed her eyes. “It sounds to me as if the boy was quite famished when you saw him last.”

“So it was not my fault?” Hope was practically radiating from the wide-eyed child.

_The Cullens._

“No, angel. It was no fault of yours. You cannot help that your blood smells so lovely. Do not be upset about this.” Aro reassured and squeezed her warm hand.

“Wha-”

“Humans do not all smell the same. Or taste the same. Some have bad habits like smoking which by default make their blood several grades lower in taste and quality than a non-smoker’s. Then there is the matter of blood types. My favourite is O negative.” Aro smirked when she realised what that meant and snorted.

“Usually it comes down to personal preference, but some humans appear more attractive to all vampires. You are one such human.”

“I cannot believe this. He wanted to kill me because I smelled _too good_?” Isabella let out an incredulous laugh.

“Hmm. I cannot say. Did you call him names in your mind perchance? Think his face too ugly?” The girl laughed.

“You are funny.” Her eyes were dancing, “…I don’t think so. I was just curious as I’d never seen anyone like him or his family before. Why?”

“Edward’s gift is telepathy. He can see and hear surface thoughts. It is a little similar to what I do, but not overly much.”

The girl was frowning. Deeply. Evidently, she did not like this information at all.

“He could hear my thoughts?” She sounded so very deeply troubled.

“Perhaps.” Then Aro indicated to their joined hands. “Perhaps not.”

“Any other _privacy invading gifts_ of the Cullens I should know about?” Isabella puffed grudgingly.

“Well… Jasper is an empath. He can feel everything others are feeling around him. To the point of influencing their emotions. But I do not know the exact range and limitations of his gift.”

“Great.” The sarcasm was heavy in her gloomy voice. “I sense you have saved the best for last. Hit me with it, lover.”

Aro laughed.

He _liked_ her.

“Alice.”

“The petite noirette?” Isabella exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes. Alice can see visions of the future. I have not met her myself but from what I have seen from the minds of those who have had the displeasure, her gift is very accurate. It shows her the future events which are strongly influenced by decisions of the people she knows.”

Incredulity was painted all over Isabella’s face.

“Are you kidding me?!”

“I certainly am not, Isabella.” Aro smirked. Then his smile disappeared. “It is very likely she has seen us. Especially, if she was looking your way, considering the curious reaction young Edward had to you.”

“WHAT!” Isabella shouted in dismay- “You mean to tell me that _Alice_ _has seen_ … **_everything_ **that happened last night?!” -and horror.

Her indignation was palpable and understandable.

“It is highly probable that she has. She might have not seen _everything_ , but most likely she has seen _something_.” Aro offered her a compassionate smile.

“ _Jesusfuckingchrist_ …”

Had Aro mentioned the girl had a serious problem with excessive use of profanity? No? Well. She did. Fate have mercy on his poor, poor ears.

“What about the others?” Isabella frustratingly huffed.

“I have no knowledge of any other gifts within their family apart from the usual abilities our kind has.”

“Oh? And what are those?”

Aro looked at the child.

She was very interested. Understandable. Vampires were something exotic and until now unknown to her besides the few misleading and usually completely false facts about their kind.

It was not as if the human will be able to talk about any of this without his permission.

_Might as well…_

“We have superior senses. Sight, hearing, smell, taste. A vampire could hear a heartbeat within seven mile radius, catch the scent of blood from twenty mile distance, if they were concentrating.”

She was looking to him with owlish eyes.

“We are very quick, we can run so fast a human would not see us pass by them.”

Such fascination in her raptured chocolate eyes.

“We have near perfect recall. Our minds are very sharp. The sciences, languages, math, etcetera. It is no problem for us.”

Still undivided attention.

“Our bodies are very durable and we are _very_ strong.”

“How strong?” Isabella’s lips had curled up and her eyes were gleaming in the headlights of passing cars.

Aro laughed. How could he not.

“Hmm.” Aro thought for a second to find the best example, “Vampire strength compared to human strength would not be dissimilar to the strength of a great white shark to that of a goldfish.” Aro said and flashed his pointy smile.

“…How?” Isabella breathed in astonishment.

“Magic.” Aro simply said.

“ _Magic_.” Isabella slowly repeated.

“Magic.”

“…right.” Isabella said with narrowed eyes, but it seemed _this time_ he was being given the benefit of the doubt. “So what’s bad about being a vampire? So far it sounds too good to be true, Mr Volturi.” Isabella teased.

“Please, dear. Mr Volturi reminds me too much of work.” Aro knew she was just teasing him, but the prospect of her addressing him by his human alias he used when dealing with _Valerian Incorporated_ business did not appeal to him in the slightest.

“Alright, Mr Vampire.” Isabella smirked.

Aro resignedly sighed.

“Bloodlust. To answer your earlier question.”

“Oh?”

“For most of our kind blood is the only thing of importance apart from our relationships to other vampires. Especially for the young ones. It takes time to control and fully master it.”

“But… it gets better, doesn’t it?” Isabella hopefully asked.

“It does.”

“What else? Do you burn in sunlight? Have to be invited in? Hate garlic? The holy water? Do you have a reflection? Does your hair grow back like it did for Kirsten Dunst in ‘The Interview With A Vampire’?” The human was so intrigued. She had taken her boots off and folded her legs underneath her and leaned her back against the door so she was looking straight at him with undivided attention.

“No. We do not burn in sunlight. However. The venom in our bodies makes our skin shine in direct sunlight. _Unfortunately_.”

“So you are all shiny? Is that why the Cullens have moved to the rainiest and darkest place in the US?” Isabella asked and bit her lip, waiting for his response.

“I do not know their reasoning, angel. But it could be a factor, it certainly is a possibility.” Aro admitted. It was quite possible some of the Cullens did not yet know how to stop the shining from happening. “Carlisle knows how to circumvent this issue. I taught him myself.”

“So you do not glitter in sun?” Isabella frowned.

“No. Only the very young ones don’t know how to stop it from happening. Or the lazy ones.” Aro grinned. “ _Or the dumb ones_.” The human bit her lip and let out a sound that could only be described as something between a snort and a sneeze. “Truthfully, practically everyone older than three hundred knows how to… _not glitter in sun_.”

“Sooo… Which ones are the Cullens?” Isabella asked in wicked amusement.

“Well… I could not make a guess if my life depended on it, Isabella.” Aro confessed with a toothy smile.

“…They are fairly young, I have to admit. Carlisle became a vampire three hundred and forty-one years ago. He’s the oldest of his family. Jasper was turned around one hundred and forty years ago. The rest have been vampires for little less than a hundred years.”

“I don’t get it. Why do they go to _school_? If they are so old.”

“I can only speculate. I have not met any of them personally, besides my friend.”

“What about the other stuff?”

“Hmm. We do not have to be invited in. It is a myth. As is our aversion to garlic, holy water, iron or wooden stakes through the heart. We have reflections _and_ we can be caught on camera.”

“What about Kirsten?”

“Normally it would not grow back at all. If you lose your hair, you lose it for good.” Aro explained.

“ **But**. If you wish it _hard enough_ , you can… _persuade_ it to grow back. Think… Harry Potter instead of Claudia.”

“Oh My God. This is the best day of my life.” The human squealed in excitement.

Aro was yet again reminded of his sister.

Didyme had loved being a vampire. Before whatever to make her wish for death happened.

His sister had _owned_ immortality.

“Nevertheless. I can perhaps understand the myth about being invited in. It is the only one which has some truth behind it.” Aro revealed to change the direction his thoughts were heading to.

“ _Really?_ Why?”

“It is very bad taste to snatch humans from their homes. Even the innocent action of simply stepping inside their homes uninvited feels wrong to us.”

They had reached Port Orchard.

“Streets, bars, parks, public buildings, roads. Cemeteries. The woods. All these locations are fair game.” Aro turned his head to the right to check on the human whose hand he was still holding. His palm was getting warm. It was such a pleasant feeling. She was still listening to him with such genuine eagerness. “But as soon as the door behind a human closes, the hunt is left in hiatus.”

“Don’t get me wrong, child. It is not as if we could not sneak into human houses and eat them. We could. Some do.” Aro admitted with a grimace. “But practically no self-respecting vampire would do such a thing. As I said. It is very poor taste.”

Aro stole a look at her, but his words still had not managed to disturb her.

Her continuous positive demeanour towards vampires was starting to make him a little nervous.

_Him!_

_How preposterous_.

“How many people have you eaten?” Isabella asked in morbid fascination.

Aro almost drove off the road.

He… had not expected to be asked this question.

_What was **wrong** with this child?!_

**But**.

 _By Magic_ , _he loved being surprised_.

“Frankly?” Aro tilted his head to the human to not miss her reaction as he drove with the speed of one hundred and forty miles per hour.

Isabella nodded.

“I have no idea.” Aro honestly answered and saw her pupils dilate in response.

Caius will be so furious with him when he inevitably pieces together that Aro has slept with a crazy human, _again_. Aro was **not** looking forward to the shouting.

 _Because she was not afraid_. Rather it was her gaining a minuscule understanding of how dangerous he really was.

“What’s it like, being a vampire?” Isabella quietly asked with overflowing interest, leaning her left side and pressing the side of her head to the passenger seat.

“It is… freeing. Despite the near constant cravings for blood. Human problems become insignificant. You are power personified. You can do anything you ever wanted. Climb Mount Everest, sink down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, jump from the Golden Gate Bridge.” A slow, blissful smile stretch on his lips. _Oh, he had let go_. “There is no reason to play by human rules any longer because the human world, their laws, their morals… they do not matter anymore. None of it applies to us beyond not drawing public attention to ourselves. Most of the time, people, _humans_ , are nothing more than food in our eyes. Our perspective of the world greatly differs from yours, for _we are not_ _humans_. We are something else entirely. What a human might consider monstrous for vampires is barely something to be frowned upon.”

Aro turned his gaze to the girl. To her wide, astounded eyes.

“That sounds amazing, Aro.”

“It is.” Aro lightly squeezed her warm hand and traced over her knuckles, his own having become so, so warm. He did not want to let go. Aro felt her soft hand hold tighter to his in response.

They had reached Hood Canal Floating Bridge so Aro slowed down to eighty miles per hour due to the few very slow moving cars that were blocking the traffic.

He had _lucked out_ , for the one person within the Seattle branch who knew of the little town in the middle of nowhere, Amy Atterberry, _Valerian Incorporated_ IT specialist, had been to the town two years ago with her fiancé for the purpose of visiting his parents for Christmas, who lived in Forks, before her fiancé Tony Sinclair drowned in Lake Washington six months later, three weeks before their wedding.

“Um. …Aro?” Isabella quietly asked as they finished crossing the bridge and continued their route through the Olympic Peninsula. “Will you be staying in Seattle for long?”

Even if she appeared only slightly curious, Aro heard her heart starting to beat faster.

She wanted to see him again?

She wanted to see him again.

“I’m afraid not, child.” Aro replied equally quietly.

“…Oh.” She tried. To mask her heavy disappointment at his words. But she did not quite manage.

“I leave tomorrow.”

“Right... Where are you going?” The girl asked, crestfallen.

“Home. To Italy.”

“Oh. …Will you come back?” She nonchalantly inquired as she stared through the front windshield with unblinking eyes. But Aro could see her eyes had gained a wet sheen to them.

“It is highly unlikely.” Aro truthfully replied. What reason was there to lie?

“…I see. Well. _Um_.” She cleared her throat before turning her head once more to him, the utmost sincere smile on her lovely face. “In any case, I had a truly wonderful time, Aro.”

When Marcus had finally understood what Aro was doing, all those thousands of years ago, he had been shocked beyond words. Not because they were humans _per se_ , but because Aro often bonded with the humans he slept with. How could he not. When their minds were open books to him. When he felt what they felt for him. And then they were either eaten by Aro, or died a few months later in some kind of silly accident. They always died. _Always_. And each severed bond _hurt_. These humans lived for such a small amount of time.

But Aro wanted to forget. He _needed_ to forget. But, of course, he could never forget. Not if the reason for his misery was still-

All of those broken bonds. They hurt almost as bad as-

The pain distracted him, for it was a different kind of pain.

And then Hettrix happened. (If it weren’t for Caius he would not have lived past three thousand because Aro would have accidentally on purpose jumped into an active volcano).

Sometimes Aro wondered if it would not have been better if Caius had not intervened.

He felt a tear roll down the left side of his face and swiftly brushed it away.

“Do you want to come with me?” Aro asked. They were flying on the highway. It was only seven a.m.

“…What?” Isabella asked, confused.

“I could take you to Italy with me, when I leave tomorrow.” Aro offered. Then he added, “If you would want to, of course.”

“ _Are you serious?_ You are serious. _My God_ , you are serious.” Aro sneaked a look at the girl and saw her shocked expression. “And crazy. Aro, that’s _insane_. I cannot _leave_ -”

“Why not?”

“ _Why not?_ ” Isabella incredulously repeated. “I’m underage, I have school, my dad’s here-”

“Angel. Weren’t you listening? None of it will matter.”

Silence.

“You mean-”

“Yes.”

“ _You mean_ you would make me like _you_? A _vampire_?” Isabella clarified, completely thrown.

“Yes. If you would want to.” Aro patiently confirmed. He could empathise. Not many humans were ever given such a choice after all. _Out of the blue_. And completely their own. “If not, you could still come with me. The choice is yours.”

Isabella was staring at him. Her heart loudly beating in her chest. It sounded strong. Her blood had been clean. She was not weak or sick. The transformation should be successful.

“I. I don’t. I… _Gosh_.” The poor thing was so confused. “Can I think about it?”

It was not a ‘no’.

“Of course, child.” Aro looked in her slightly panicked eyes and gave her one of his warm smiles, and intertwined their fingers. “I want to visit Carlisle before I leave, anyway.”

She was silent for a few minutes. She seemed deep in thought, so Aro let her think undisturbed.

“How does it happen? Becoming a vampire?” Isabella asked. It was a very good question.

“In your case, I would bite you and my venom would transform you into a newborn vampire. The transformation takes around three full days to run its course. It is not pleasant, but it will not be painful for you either. You will feel very sleepy and exhausted… disoriented, but you will have me there the entire time. Nothing to worry about, child.”

“How many humans have you turned?” Isabella asked. Such an innocent question. For most vampires it was. She could not have known…

“Very many, child.” Aro vaguely replied. “Currently I have only two children of mine.”

“You have kids?!” Isabella cried in surprise. And then she slapped her right hand over her mouth.

Aro smirked, “I have. Twins. Alec and Jane. They look around thirteen, but they are over one thousand years old.”

“One- _One thousand?_ ” Isabella mouthed.

“If you will agree to become a vampire, you will also have a sister your age. She is nineteen years old right now and works for the family. I want to change her as well, but I do not know if she will agree.”

“…Haven’t you read her mind?” The human curiously said.

“I have. But she has never considered the possibility. It has become… very dangerous for her to remain human.”

The girl shifted uneasily.

“Why?”

“One of the family has become obsessed with her. Stalked her on her dates, gave her an engagement ring for Christmas. It is forbidden to touch her, but I do not believe the threat of the dire consequences will deter him for long.”

“Is he in love with her?” Isabella cautiously asked.

“He thinks so. But Phillippa does not return his feelings. It is completely one sided. _Trust me_. _I know_.”

“It is a very unpleasant situation. She is a very close friend of mine. It would… sadden me greatly if she would choose to die rather than become one of us. But the possibility remains.”

“Do you think she will agree?”

“She does not want to die. But she loves her family very much. It would rip her heart out to have to disappear from their lives forever.”

“Didn’t you say it would not matter?” Isabella whispered.

“For most newborn vampires, the memories of their human life fade within the first days, only the most important ones remain intact. Some do not remember anything besides their names.”

“Some remember their families. But very few want to go back to their old lives.”

“Phillippa. She has a brilliant mind. On par with vampires. I have reason to believe she wouldn’t forget anything of her human life in her new existence. And she loves her human family very much.”

“I think I get it.” The human said. Then she looked up to him, “What did you remember?”

Sweet Darkness, she had no idea what she was asking.

“…My name. And my sister.” Aro quietly said. “Nothing else.”

“ _Nothing?_ ”

“I remember there being glimpses of other muddy memories that slipped away at lightning speed. I did not yet know I should try and catch them before they faded into nothing. They did not feel important.” Aro carelessly admitted. They were truly insignificant now. It had happened an eternity ago…

“When was that?” Isabella asked despite her initial aversion. “I know I said I didn’t want to know, but-”

“I do not remember, angel.”

The girl frowned and bit her lip, then released it, a question forming on her lips-

“It was a very long time ago. Nobody really had a system for counting years like they do now.”

“I. Okay.” Isabella gave up and shifted her gaze back to the gradually lightening sky, even if they were heading west. It was not as if he was ashamed of his age. Sweet Magic, no. Not at all. But he knew even vampires were unsettled when they learned of his true age. Darling Renata had an erroneous guess of four thousand and she had been horrified. Aro had not corrected her incorrect assumption.

He did not want to scare this sweet child.

They were rapidly approaching Port Angeles. A fairly large city, compared to Forks.

“Why did you not go to Port Angeles to do your shopping, Isabella? It is considerably closer than Seattle.”

“I don’t know. I had considered it, but… Seattle reminds me more of Phoenix. It is where I lived before. I wanted to disappear in the masses of people, become as anonymous as I was back home.” Isabella revealed. “Port Angeles is not as large for me to have succeeded. Plus there are far more shops in Seattle.” Isabella weakly smiled.

“I see.”

They had reached the outer area of Port Angeles and Aro once more slowed down to drive through the city at a somewhat more appropriate speed.

“Why did you move here?”

“My mom remarried. I decided to spend some time with my dad,” was Isabella’s succinct reply.

“Did you not like the husband?”

“Phil? He’s cool. He travels a lot for work. Mom wanted to go with him.”

“Ah.” How very understanding of Isabella. Aro lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of her palm. Poor child.

“Aro?” She cautiously asked.

“Mm?”

“Are you married?” The girl quietly asked and Aro saw her eyes focusing on his left hand where his and Sulpicia’s wedding bands adorned his ring and fifth finger, which was resting on the wheel.

“No, angel.” He sensed her tangible relief but she was still looking at his rings with a crease between her brows.

Aro exhaled a deep breath. Then drew in air slowly.

“I was married once. Her name was Sulpicia. She died in 1903.” Aro said and slowly exhaled again.

“ _…oh_. _Damn_. I’m sorry, Aro.” Isabella quietly said and exerted a small but nevertheless noticeable pressure on his hand.

“I haven’t been able to part with them.” Aro moved his ring and pinkie finger. “Some nights it feels as if it happened only yesterday.”

“What was she like?” Isabella whispered in the quiet car.

“Beautiful. And kind. So, so kind. _Intelligent_.” Aro smiled and threw a look at the human who was attentively listening to his every word, “Too many vampires, angel, despite their superior mental capabilities are idiots.” The girl laughed.

“Sulpicia was the sanest person I have ever met. Before or afterwards.” Aro added. “I think there had been some kind of mistake, when she was born to this earth, for sane souls do not come to this reality.”

“What do you mean? ‘Sane souls do not come here’?” Isabella asked, incredulous.

“There is no such thing. All that rubbish about ‘clean slates’. Complete nonsense. I have not met a single completely sane person apart from my wife in all the time I have walked this earth. I have met and read the minds of millions of people. There is no such thing as a sane human, Isabella. Only the gravity of their sanity or rather _insanity_.” Aro smiled one of his Cheshire Cat smiles.

“Oh My God. I don’t believe you. But at the same time, I cannot _help_ **but** believe you. This is… I don’t know what to call this, Aro. _Mind-bending_.” Isabella exclaimed in entertainment.

“What about me? You say you can’t read me.” The crazy human grinned.

“True. What do _you_ think?” Aro asked.

“How should I know? It’s all the rest which are insane, surely.” She replied and bit her lip, amusement swimming in her cat eyes.

“That is exactly what every crazy person thinks, angel.” Aro smirked, playing along. “Coincidentally, it is what my wife thought about others as well, but in her defence she was the only one who was right.”

“What did she think about you?”

“That I was one of the few unlucky ones who _knew_ they were insane, but couldn’t overcome it even knowing this. …But she loved me anyway.”

“She sounds really amazing, Aro.” Aro could hear her sincere smile in her words.

“She was.”

They were driving along the shore of Lake Crescent with the speed of one hundred and fifty miles per hour. It was very beautiful here.

Amy and Tony had spent a month in his parents' newly built lodge house by the lake the summer before last, days before Anthony drowned in Lake Washington. He had worked for _Valerian Incorporated_ as well. He had been one of their best engineers. It had been ruled out as a suicide and the investigation had declared it an accident but…

Aro could even see the quaint log house right now. Standing on the other side of the lake.

According to Amy, who still kept in touch with her ex-fiancé’s parents, they rented out the lake house in summers and sometimes around Christmas to tourists and returned to their old house in Forks for the duration of having guests in the lake house. It was a very easy way to earn additional income (the old house in Forks had turned out to be uncommonly difficult to sell) as the lake house was one of the most spacious and most accommodating properties around here.

Additionally, it had a spectacular view of Lake Crescent.

It was seven twenty-seven a.m.

“We will arrive in Forks in about twenty minutes.” Aro informed Isabella.

“Can we go to my place first? I need to grab my books. And leave the bags.”

“Of course.”

Her father had not called her again. Which could only mean he had not been home all night and had not noticed his daughter had not been there either.

“It’s at 870 Sherriff’s Hideaway. I’ll show you, when we get closer.”

The nature here was truly magnificent. It seemed almost untouched by humans, well, apart from the roads and the small towns that had grown around the main roads.

Aro had to grudgingly admit that Carly had found a very beautiful home for himself here.

“I want to go with you.”

Aro’s head whipped to Isabella. He had thought she would need more time to make her decision.

“I mean, I will go with you to Italy.” Isabella said decisively, gazing at him with serious eyes. “I feel I will make the biggest mistake of my life, if I don’t.”

Aro smiled one of his warmest smiles.

He was tremendously relieved.

“ _Excellent_. I’m very glad, angel.” Aro drew her warm hand up and pressed it to his cheek before lifting it to his lips again and leaving another quick kiss on it. “You won’t regret it.”

“I know. I really like you, Aro.” The girl shyly confessed.

“I like you too, angel.”

A pleasant silence fell in the car.

A few minutes later they drove past the sign ‘THE CITY OF FORKS WELCOMES YOU’.

Aro slowed down to the allowed speed within the town. It would not do to get pulled over by Isabella’s father, now would it? _Although_ , such an eventuality definitely possessed the potential for an exceptionally entertaining conversation…

“You have to take the first turn right after crossing the Calawah River. Then the second turn right, again, and follow the main street until… I’ll show you when we reach it.” Isabella said.

The town was practically extinct at this hour.

It was seven fifty a.m.

Aro followed Isabella’s directions and soon enough she indicated another right turn. And another right turn.

“It’s the one on the right.” As Phillippa would say- _how… shockingly unexpected!_

Aro stopped the car in front of a fairly large, light grey-blue two storey house with a dark tile roof, a balcony overlooking the driveway and the kitchen window beneath it. There was an empty doghouse near the door to the basement off to the left from the large oak wood front door on which a white Christmas wreath was still hanging on.

He killed the engine and swiftly got out of the car, shut the door and headed for the trunk. He could hear Isabella getting out of the car and tripping again as she closed the door shut, but steadied herself at the last moment. To be frank, Aro was at a loss here. His venom should have taken effect already. _Just how much of it did she need to correct her abhorrent sense of equilibrium?!_ Evidently the amount coursing through her veins right now was not nearly enough. _Poor child_.

Aro opened the trunk and retrieved all her bags while Isabella was fishing the keys to the house out of her jacket pocket and climbing up the four steps to the porch.

She unlocked the door and turned her head back-

“ _Jesus!_ ” -only to find him already behind her.

“I didn’t even- I’ll just have to get used to this... _Right._ ” The girl motioned for him to follow her, “Come in.”

Aro felt instant relief. He had not lied to the girl about human houses. If a vampire did not have permission to be in them the edgy feeling of wrongness did not leave until they left the house. _Now?_ He felt a very pleasant, warm tingle beneath his skin. (And even if an undead was invited and stepped inside a human’s house? Practically no vampire would kill a human in their home. It was not how it was done. It was the same as drinking animal blood. You _could_ do that. You _could_ survive like that. But it was ~~unnatural~~ **wrong** to do that.)

Isabella took off her jacket and hung it on an empty hook in the hallway and kicked off her boots, _stumbling_.

Directly opposite the front door was the back door at the end of the hallway. To the left was the living room, on the right the kitchen but deeper into the house were three closed doors to other rooms. On the right, just past the kitchen was a steep staircase with too high and too narrow finely polished wooden steps to the upper floor where Aro suspected the bedrooms were located. How could the child safely get up _and down_ from there?

“Um. You don’t have to come up. I can take the bags up myse-”

“Angel. You will break your beautiful neck if you attempt to bring them up yourself.” Aro dryly remarked and hoped the crazy human would not argue with irrefutable and for once _sound_ logic.

“I… You’re probably right. Alright, c’mon.” The girl started to gingerly climb up the stairs. Twelve steps. _It should have been **at least** **eighteen** given the height of the first level!_ Who had built this house?!

Her bedroom was the one on the left, above the back door and had a view of the backyard and the woods. Aro walked into the small room and set the five bags on the lilac coloured quilt on her bed. The room had one skylight above the door and another almost above her bed, reminded him a little of his own bedroom at the Castle. And it had a large and very low window overlooking the backyard. Which could evidently be opened as a faint breeze was constantly airing the room through the tilt turn window. No balcony underneath it…

“It’s a very fast way down. _Believe me_.” Isabella’s voice humourlessly commented from behind him as she collected the items for today’s lessons and threw all of them in her schoolbag.

“Speaking from experience, are you?”

“Oh yes. I do not recommend.” The human absentmindedly remarked. “For the record.”

So the human had fallen out of said window, at least once.

The room possessed slight trace of the girl’s lovely scent, but it was still very mild. She indeed had not lived here long. The rest of the house had smelled dominantly like lemongrass.

“When was this?”

“Uh… eight, nine years ago. I have found there are safer places to read and fall asleep at.” _Lovely_.

The shuffling stopped.

“Um. Aro?”

Aro turned around, making the human flinch instinctually from the suddenness of his move, and tilted his head in question.

“What- what should I take with me? And… when exactly are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow morning. Will your father be home?”

“I don’t know. Probably not. He leaves around seven thirty every morning. At least he did last week.”

“Wonderful. I’ll collect you around eight. If he’s still here before you must leave for school, I’ll pick you up there. You should take whatever you like. You won’t be returning here, angel.”

“I… I know.” The girl let out a nervous breath. She lifted up her bag and headed for the door.

“Angel.”

“Yeah?” the girl turned around to look at his unmoving figure.

“Put on a scarf.” A lovely crimson blush spread on her face almost instantly. She looked so adorably mortified. “Better yet, a high neck sweater or blouse.”

“I don’t think I-” The girl started to say only to cut off abruptly. “There _is_ the one thing.”


End file.
